Most of a hundred Republican House members (71), plus Blue Dog Democrat Dan Lipinski, have accused
the major broadcast news networks of a "blackout" of Planned
Parenthood lobbying in favor of "infanticide" and the ongoing murder
trial of abortion provider Dr. Kermit Gosnell.
Gosnell is accused of killing seven babies who had been born
alive. (Editor's note: that info was gleaned from a lengthy AP story on the
case Wednesday posted
on the CBS News website.)
The legislators were pulling no punches. They leveled their
accusations in three
identical letters to the three broadcast network news presidents.
The group, led by Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and
Steve Scalise (R-La.), said they were "profoundly appalled" at what
they said was the networks' ignoring of the two stories. "Coverage of
these stories has eluded your news divisions," they wrote.
In a separate statement, Blackburn put an even stronger
point on her concern.
"The broadcasters' blackout of the Planned Parenthood
infanticide lobbying scandal and the Gosnell ‘House of Horrors' murder trial
are the biggest and most politically-motivated media cover-ups in our nation's
history," said Blackburn in a statement accompanying the letters. "The
mainstream media has a responsibility to report the truth, not turn a blind eye
to the biggest civil rights issue of our time."
ABC had no comment. While ABC has not covered the trial in
its network newscast, it has aired stories on radio and posted numerous stories
on its website.
CBS also declined comment. But CBS did air
pieces on the trial in the Sunday evening news and Monday on CBS This Morning.
An NBC spokesperson was unavailable for comment.
